life lessons

I remember the first time I had a revelation about this verse it set me FREE:
“Everything is permissible–but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible–but not everything is constructive.” – I Corinthians 10:23

What Paul is saying is you can do anything you want, but not everything is going to make you happy, or satisfied, or peaceful, or prosperous.

Especially with where I was in my life at that point, I needed to know I wasn’t being told “what not to do”, that I could make my own decisions and God would still love me and forgive me. What I needed at that time in my life was not more rules and religion, or guilt and condemnation, but, love, and grace and freedom. And in that verse I found it.

Eventually I just realized that I was a lot happier doing the things that would make me closer to Him anyway. Being more like Him.

And so there it is, right under the most appropriate heading the Bible ever published: “The Believer’s Freedom”.

I had a discussion about this tonight with a friend, and thought someone else might need that revelation as well.

[January 2013]

you can't do anything.png

Sometimes despite all your best efforts, cautions, standards and tenacity you just get hurt.

Sometimes you just have to let people go.

Sometimes you end up hurting those you love most.

Sometimes you just screw up and miss it all together. And in those times when you just don’t think you can get any lower or screw up any more… You find grace. And realize it’s all going to be ok.

Sometimes you just have to let people IN, despite how vulnerable that makes you feel. Because in the end they will end up helping you grow, making you a better person.

Sometimes you discover things about yourself you never knew. Some of those things you may not like. Others you may be pleasantly surprised by.

God always knows best.

He brings people and things into our lives right when we need them.

Sometimes making new friends is exactly what you need. Sometimes re-finding old best friends is the only thing you need. And when you do, it’s the best feeling in the world.

Sometimes your circumstances- usually the ones you don’t like – are absolutely no one’s fault but your own. And you just have to deal with them, learn from them, and avoid them again in the future.

Sometimes you just need to slow down take a deep breath and start over. Maybe even tomorrow.

Sometimes you just need to take a nap!

Disciplined is not something that you are, or you aren’t. It’s a daily battle, to be disciplined, and it is determined only by the decisions you make, and the actions you take.

The same is true for everything about you in life. You are not who you think you are, or who you believe you are, you are only the decisions you make, every day.

Which brings me to my next point – you can only lie to yourself so long.

The good news about that is, you can be someone completely different than you are today, just by making different decisions tomorrow. You can be exactly who you want to be.

Sometimes, that’s a relief, because you don’t like who you are today.

And if you do like who you are today, all you have to do is make those same quality decisions tomorrow.

Sometimes – no, all of the time – other people’s actions are completely out of your control. The sooner you realize that and let that go, the easier life becomes. Even if their actions and decisions hurt you in the meantime.

Because sometimes despite all your best efforts, cautions, standards and tenacity you just get hurt.

[January 1, 2010]